All the Latest...

Michael Chabon's novel The Yiddish Policeman's Union was declared the winner of the Hugo Award for best novel. The book also won the Nebula Award for best novel, the Locus Award for best science fiction novel and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. It was also nominated for an Edgar Award. A film adaptation of the novel will be written and directed by the Cohen brothers.

The Romance Writers of America announced the winners of the 2008 RITA Awards. Dead Girls Are Easy by Terri Garey won the award for best first book. Take a look at the rest of the winners here.

The Private Eye Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2008 Shamus Awards.

T.C. Boyle will be publishing a novel about the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, told through the eyes of four women who loved him, titled The Women, due out in 2009.

Starbucks' latest book pick is the memoir The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood. In the book, Cooper chronicles her coming of age in Liberia during the 1980s. Following the country's fall into civil war and her family's exile to America, Cooper also recounts her return to Liberia, decades after she fled, to find the foster sister who was left behind.

Stephenie Meyer's fourth book in her popular Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, sold an estimated 1.3 million copies on its August 2nd release date.

The publication of Sherry Jones' novel, The Jewel of Medina, a historical fiction novel detailing the origins of Islam through the eyes of the prophet Muhammad's youngest wife A'isha, has been cancelled by Random House. RH stated that they received advice from "credible and unrelated sources...that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." An article in the Wall Street Journal claimed that Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of history and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas, was the instigator of the book's cancellation. Apparently she was given a galley from Random House, which hoped for a comment to use on the book jacket. Spellberg, whose research on A'isha is widely cited, does not support the book, stating that it is a deliberate misinterpretation of history (although Jones' cites 29 scholarly and religious texts used in research for the novel). Spellberg refuted the accusations that she is the cause of the cancellation. RH has said that Jones is free to sell her book to other publishers and she has published the novel's prologue on the blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. There is a good summary of the fiasco and links to articles from the WSJ and other news sources on Wikipedia. Hopefully she'll find another publisher-now I'm intersted in reading this!

The Serpent's Tale

Ariana Franklin's second book in her series featuring Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, The Serpent's Tale returns us to 12th century England for another absorbing mystery. King Henry II's mistress, Rosamund Clifford, has been poisoned and Adelia, a doctor trained in the art of death, is asked to investigate the crime. Many suspect the Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Adelia must discover the truth before England becomes embroiled in a civil war. Adelia is once again aided by her guardian Mansur and her lover (and father of her child) Rowley Picot, who is now a bishop. When other murders occur, Adelia finds she is facing more than one killer.

The first novel in this series, Mistress of the Art of Death, was a great read and I found the second installment just as enjoyable. It has all the makings of a great read: a good mystery, a quick pace, great detail, and interesting characters. Hopefully there will be more to come in this great series.

The Rhino With Glue-On Shoes

Continuing with the nonfiction animal books, I just finished The Rhino With Glue-On Shoes: And Other Surprising True Stories of Zoo Vets and Their Patients edited by Lucy H. Spelman and Ted Y. Mashima. The book is a compilation of fascinating stories of zoo and wildlife vets who go to great lengths to diagnose and treat the animals in their care. Often, the vets are working in uncharted territory and really have to be creative in coming up with a solution to treat a sick animal. How is a 1000 pound whale shark transported from Taiwan to Atlanta? What special precautions are taken when repairing a hernia in a polar bear? And what do you do when a dung beetle has an infestation of mites? A stint in a decompression chamber for a sea dragon, a leg brace for a giraffe and special shoes for a rhinoceros are just a few of the unconventional treatments described in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, mainly because I was just amazed at what can be done for these animals, and how dedicated the vets are to helping them. A lot of times it seems that the animals get better care than humans would! While I was reading this, I was thinking of a patron who recently asked me if we had any adult books about veterinarians that her teenage daughter (who wants to be a vet) could read. This would have been the perfect book for her, or for any young adult considering a career as a vet. Each story is short (5-10 pages), easy to read, and quite enlightening. And for animal lovers, it's a must read.

House of Daughters

A few years ago, for no reason at all, I happened to pick up Sarah-Kate Lynch's novel Blessed Are the Cheesemakers and completely loved the wonderful story, the quaint setting and quirky characters. When I read her second novel, By Bread Alone, I enjoyed it (especially the bread baking), although I didn't love it as much as the Cheesemakers. I was excited to pick up her most recent novel, House of Daughters, to see if it would live up to my expectations. Lynch's novels all have foreign settings-this one taking place in the Champagne region of France. Food and/or wine also always play a big role in her novels, and obviously Champagne is the focus here. Clementine, a middle-aged, single woman and her grumpy, alcoholic father are vignerons (that's fancy talk for winemaker) and produce their own champagne. When Clementine's father passes away, Clementine thinks she will be left the vineyard to run on her own, but when her lawyer turns up to inform her that her father has left the vineyard to her, her estranged half-sister and another half-sister she was unaware of, Clementine's world is turned upside down. Although they do not warm to each other immediately, the sisters begin slowly by focusing on the vineyard. The future of the vineyard is uncertain as each sister confronts her own issues and they learn to accept each other.

Lynch has written another wonderful story. Great settings are something Lynch does very well. Her descriptions of the French vineyards and the caves where the wine is stored will transport you to France. And with her descriptions of the changing seasons, I could almost feel the frost in the air as I read. Although somewhat predictable, the characters are interesting and endearing and the plot kept me hooked. I believe Lynch has two other books I have not read, Eating With the Angels and House of Joy, which I will have to track down.

Cats Rule

Lately I've been reading nonfiction books about animals for a nonfiction genre study I am participating in. I felt like I was showing too much favoritism to the dog books (Marley & Me, Merle's Door, etc.) and thought I should have a balanced selection of books, so I set about finding a good book about a cat. I chose Peter Gethers' The Cat Who Went to Paris. This was a fun, quick, light read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Gethers, a longtime dog lover was given a Scottish Fold cat by a girlfriend and immediately fell in love. Gethers named him Norton and began taking him around Manhattan, on trips across the country, and even to Paris. I was amazed at how easy it was for Gethers to take Norton so many places. He did have one incident with a stewardess-excuse me, flight attendant, on an airplane, but otherwise, Gethers takes him to hotels, restaurants, on buses, boats and planes with few problems. It's pretty astonishing that Norton never gets lost or runs away, even though he has every opportunity to do so. He follows Gethers on walks and always returns to the same spot where Gethers leaves him. Throughout the book, Gethers deals with the breakup of a serious relationship, a return to the dating scene and the death of his father. Norton is there throughout everything-even showing his distaste for a few of Gethers' dates. There is also a very humorous story of Norton using Roman Polansky's bathtub as a toilet. A great read for cat lovers!

All the Latest...

Robert Downey Jr. has postponed the memoir he was writing and returned the advance to his publisher. Hopefully this is because he is too busy making more Iron Man movies.

Forbes reporter Christopher Steiner will be publishing a book called $20 Per Gallon, which will be similar to Alan Weisman's The World Without Us, in that it explores how the rising cost of gasoline will change the world.

The first authorized biography written in English of Gabriel Garcia Marquez will be written by Gerald Martin. Martin interviewed over 300 people for the biography, including Marquez himself, Fidel Castro, four Colombian presidents, as well as Marquez's family and friends.

Author Visit!

Max Allan Collins, author of The Road to Perdition, will be visiting the Warren Newport Public Library to discuss his latest novel, Red Sky in Morning on Saturday, August 2nd at 1pm.